Henry I, Count of Eu
Henry I, Count of Eu (ca. 1075-12 July 1140), son of William II, Count of Eu, and his wife Helisende d'Avranches, sister of Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester. Count of Eu, Lord of Hastings. Henry descended from Richard I, Duke of Normandy. His father died in 1096, having revolted against the King William the Red. Defeated, underwent a trial by combat that he lost to Geoffrey Baynard. As a result, the king condemned him to blindness and emasculation. He survived only a short time with his wounds.
As the eldest son, Henry succeeded William as Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings. In 1101, he supported Duke Robert Curthose against his brother Henry Beauclerc who has just ravished the English throne. Robert left Tréport, the domain of the county of Eu, to invade England. Orderic Vitalis reports that in 1104, while still in Normandy, Henry submitted to the English king. He fought for the king at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106, where Duke Robert was taken prisoner, to remain in captivity for the rest of his life.
Henry the joined to cause of William Clito, the son of Duke Robert, in the coalition composed of Baldwin VII of Flanders, Fulk V of Anjou, and Louis VI the Fat. In 1117, Henry and Hugh de Gournay were arrested at Rouen by Henry I. On the promise of good behavior and at the request of William de Warenne, they were released. Nevertheless, Henry and Hugh, joining with Stephen of Aumale, led a rebellion in the northeast and provided military support to Baldwin VI. The rebellion ended in September 1118 at the Battle of Bures-en-Brai, where Baldwin was mortally wounded. Henry returned to the side of King Henry I.
A few months later, on August 20, 1119, Henry was one several barons who accompanied King Henry I when a meeting of the Norman and French royal armies gave rise to the Battle of Brémule. The French were swept away, and Louis VI had to flee and take refuge in the fortress of Les Andelys. In the following month, he took part in the defense of the town of Breteuil, which wais attacked by the French king and his ally Amaury III of Montfort. Once again, the French were defeated. In 1124, William of Grandcourt, one of Henry's sons, took part in the ambush at Bourgtheroulde.. He captured Amaury III of Montfort, but chose to desert rather than hand him over to Henry I. In 1127, Henry again openly supported William Clito.
Henry first married Mathilde and secondly Hermentrude, both of unknown families. He married thirdly Marguerite de Sully, daughter of William the Simple, Count of Sully, and his wife Agnes. Henry and Marguerite had four children:
- John, Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings
- Béatrice of Eu
- Mathilde (Mahout) of Eu (d. 1153)
- Stephen (Etienne) of Eu (d. after 1140).
William of Grandcourt (d. 1150 or after) was also a son of Henry's but likely illegitimate.
Henry founded the Savignian abbey of Foucarmont in 1129, now known as La Fontaine Saint Martin. Henry embraced a religious life by becoming the Augustinian canon of the abbey Notre-Dame d'Eu. His death is marked on 12 July in the obituary of the abbey of Foucarmont, where he is buried.
Upon Henry's death, his son John became Count of Eu and Lord of Hastings.
Sources
Waters, Edmund C., The Counts of Eu, Sometime Lords of the Honour of Tickhill, The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal, No. 9, 1886
Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford University Press, 3rd Edition, 1971
Neveux, François, A Brief History of the Normans, Translated by Howard Curtis, Constable & Robinson, Ltd., London, 2008